Arion, who is either from Chile or New York (it’s not really clear) writes a blog that the Outhouse steals on a regular basis. Arion is by far the nicest of all the staff writers and the most well behaved only having been banned from one country. One thing we really appreciate about Aroin is that he writes his reviews in English and Spanish and we hope someday he’ll translate this blurb for us. We’re not so good at languages, just look at how well we write in English if you need proof. You should bookmark Arion’s blog - http://artbyarion.blogspot.com – and actually look at it. There will be a quiz at the end of every month.

comics from the floor to the roof / cómics desde el piso hasta el techoToday physical activity for me was quite excessive: I rearranged my comic book collection. I moved books from one shelf to another, the change wasn’t significant, but carrying all the heavy stuff, and rearranging hardcovers and trade paperbacks was quite tiresome, I couldn’t even lift some of the stuff by myself, anyway in the end I did it without any help. So now my collection has been officially relocated.After finishing I picked up my edition of Don Quixote. In the same way that Shakespeare is the most important classic author in England, Cervantes is the most important classic writer in Spain. He wrote this thin that is considered the first novel, and towards the end of the book, there is one of the most beautiful lines ever written in Spanish. A translation always betrays the original message but at least you will have an idea of what am I talking about: «"Ah!" said Sancho weeping, "don't die, master, but take my advice and live many years; for the most foolish thing a man can do in this life is to let himself die without rhyme or reason, without anybody killing him, or any hands but melancholy's making an end of him"». I loved that line because of its message, it was such a profound and beautiful message. Every time I have been depressed, in the past, I knew that it didn’t matter if those words were truth or not, because in the end melancholy (or depression) was enough to provoke Don Quixote’s death. That’s one of the things that I admire the most about this story, there are no happy endings, Sancho cannot convince his master of the importance of life. In the same way that I could not consider my life as something valuable 4 years ago. But that is all in the past, now I just try to focus on the present, I try to believe that Sancho was right despite the final outcome…Iris Murdoch said once, “you may know a truth, but if it is at all complicated you have to be an artist not to utter it as a lie”. I’d say she was right.
that's how my top shelf looks like / así se ve mi repisa superior________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
José Luis CarranzaHace un par de horas, se inauguró la muestra “Retorno a la isla de Citera” del talentoso y laureado artista José Luis Carranza. Desde la primera vez que contemplé, absorto y conmovido, los cuadros de Carranza, allá por el 2009 o 2010, supe que estaba frente a un artista de una destreza creativa y una sensibilidad incomparable. Y, al mismo tiempo, también estaba frente a una propuesta que se apartaba del canon, que desafiaba lo establecido y que retaba al espectador.En los cuadros de Carranza percibo la licuefacción de la estética clásica y el despliegue portentoso de un nuevo orden de belleza. Los ojos (esas ventanas del alma que tanto han inspirado a los poetas) de sus personajes son acuosos, acuarelosos si me permiten el neologismo, y subrayan la ceguera o la descomposición de la mirada. En general, muchos de los hombres y mujeres que pueblan los cuadros del artista son seres atrapados en ese limbo que tanto fascinaba a Lacan, ese lugar entre dos muertes, y así, por inesperado que parezca, encontramos lo bello en la piel ligeramente putrefacta de estos seres, o en la expresión hierática y afligida del sujeto que mastica hierbas, o las escupe, como un cadáver que alberga una fauna propia en su interior.
José Luis Carranza
my drawing / mi dibujoEn el principio de los tiempos existía Gea, la tierra, quien engendró a Uranos, el cielo, juntos engendraron a su vez a Cronos, el tiempo, primero entre los Titanes. En la mitología, Cronos castra a su padre Uranos y arroja sus genitales al mar de Citera. Allí donde caen, nace Afrodita, la diosa de la belleza. Fíjense en esa figura tautológicamente edípica, en la castración como requisito sine qua non para el origen de la belleza. Carranza es muy consciente de la belleza que surge del horror, de la hermosura de esas criaturas asombrosas y espeluznantes que habitan en sus óleos. Originally Published at http://artbyarion.blogspot.com/2013/09/retorno-la-isla-de-citera-jose-luis.html

my drawings for an upcoming comic / mis dibujos para un cómic que saldrá prontoIf there is a will, there is a way. I wish I could believe that. However, I can’t. Not right now. I’ve been feeling awful about this, but I am ready to give up. It has been over a month and I have achieved nothing. I started with a couple of job prospects and after so many days the number hasn’t increased at all. And, like in a bankruptcy chart, the numbers are climbing down. I don’t know what bothers me the most: the fact that I won’t get a new job before October or my own resignation. This is so typical. I guess this is just another example of how I never get what I want. Or am I being too pessimistic? I know how frustrating can it be when things don’t work out the way you want to. "If you don’t get this job you will get another one", people say. But what are you supposed to do in the meantime? I talked to a friend the other day. He's doing even worse than I am (hard to believe, innit?). Somehow I cheered him up. I haven't even the faintest idea of how I did it. And it made me wonder......Can I give to others something that I do not have? Fortunately I can. Otherwise I wouldn’t bother to write fiction. How is it possible to strengthen in others the hope that would only dwindle inside me? And how can my words be good for them but useless to myself? Extraordinary power, miracle, noble effort to hand over the very thing that I lack the most. It is, as Bernanos would say, the mysterious gift of the empty hands.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Como en los últimos años he viajado poco, a veces me preocupa estar desconectado de la movida artística latinoamericana. Por suerte, la Galería Enlace siempre se encarga de invitar a artistas de diversos países. Roberto Ascóniga, director de la conocida galería sanisidrina, siempre elige a los más talentosos. Y eso es algo evidente si repasamos el catálogo de los últimos tres años.Anteayer si inauguró “La gran kermesse”, muestra individual del argentino Sergio Camporeale. Sin duda, un maestro del pincel y del color, Camporeale nos deleita con imágenes bien definidas, apresadas a veces por una bruma de ensueño que nos remite al poder de la mitología, clásica y postmoderna, y por eso es posible que en sus cuadros convivan un minotauro y un Batman, un hoplita desnudo y un Spider-Man.El enfoque sobrio, los colores mates y el trazo preciso del artista septuagenario aportan a cada uno de sus cuadros un poder mágico y evocador que pocos logran. La experiencia de toda una vida dedicada a la pintura se plasma en “La gran kermesse”.
Teniendo en cuenta la inclinación netamente comiquera del blog, los dejo con dos cuadros en los que podemos encontrar a Batman y a Spider-Man.En abril del 2011, Camporeale también estuvo presente en nuestro país (gracias otra vez a la Galería Enlace), si quieren ver más de sus cuadros hagan click aquí.Originally Published at http://artbyarion.blogspot.com/2013/09/la-gran-kermesse-sergio-camporeale.html